Comments on: Apparatus to focus human body heat for the purposes of cooking potatoes, 1930http://boingboing.net/2011/12/06/apparatus-to-focus-human-body.html
Brain candy for Happy MutantsMon, 15 Sep 2014 23:11:17 +0000hourly1http://wordpress.org/?v=4.2.2By: djefhttp://boingboing.net/2011/12/06/apparatus-to-focus-human-body.html#comment-1290616
Thu, 08 Dec 2011 16:21:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=132986#comment-1290616I actually used one of these once to cook some potatoes. But when I was done I felt too cold and didn’t feel like eating potatoes anymore.
]]>By: elduenohttp://boingboing.net/2011/12/06/apparatus-to-focus-human-body.html#comment-1290318
Thu, 08 Dec 2011 03:39:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=132986#comment-1290318Why hasn’t this important exception to the law of thermodynamics been applied to more important applications?
]]>By: Williamhttp://boingboing.net/2011/12/06/apparatus-to-focus-human-body.html#comment-1290161
Thu, 08 Dec 2011 00:49:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=132986#comment-1290161So scientists discovered the meaning of life, the purpose of our existence, back in 1930? No one ever told me it was all about potatoes…but it makes so much sense now.
]]>By: technogeekagainhttp://boingboing.net/2011/12/06/apparatus-to-focus-human-body.html#comment-1289901
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 20:53:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=132986#comment-1289901BTW, the standard estimate for figuring HVAC needs is that each human puts out about 100 watts of heat. (Doubled when you have a bright idea and a 100-watt lightbulb appears over your head, I suppose.)
]]>By: yrihttp://boingboing.net/2011/12/06/apparatus-to-focus-human-body.html#comment-1289529
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 17:23:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=132986#comment-1289529Why, Mr Tulip, of course!
]]>By: Cicada Maniahttp://boingboing.net/2011/12/06/apparatus-to-focus-human-body.html#comment-1289393
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:46:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=132986#comment-1289393As long as the potatoes are used to make vodka I approve.
]]>By: Suzanne LaForesthttp://boingboing.net/2011/12/06/apparatus-to-focus-human-body.html#comment-1289388
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 15:43:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=132986#comment-1289388This is one of my biggest pet peeves. The “Scientists have learned that our bodies are living machines.” NO! Our bodies are not machines, they are organisms. There is much value in observing our bodies and minds as if they were machines. There is also much value in trying to understand the ways we differ from machines.
]]>By: pjcamphttp://boingboing.net/2011/12/06/apparatus-to-focus-human-body.html#comment-1289340
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 14:35:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=132986#comment-1289340It varies considerably depending whether you’re just sitting there (~40) up to doing a strenuous workout (~200). Even so, 100 watts would be equal to an Easy Bake so the potatoes still aren’t going to be done any time soon. Bulb men are additive so, for example, a 100,000 person sports arena is a 10 million watt bulb and is going to need some serious heat redistribution.
]]>By: caplhttp://boingboing.net/2011/12/06/apparatus-to-focus-human-body.html#comment-1289304
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 12:57:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=132986#comment-1289304I have heard that it is more like a 100 watt bulb. I was in a building in Switzerland that utilized the heat generated in crowded rooms to heat other parts of the building. It had a sophisticated heat transfer system and lots of insulation to use heat generated from diverse sources including human heat output.
]]>By: tsahttp://boingboing.net/2011/12/06/apparatus-to-focus-human-body.html#comment-1289241
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 09:43:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=132986#comment-1289241Always have your potato with you and no harm will come to you. I wonder how many people know where I got that from.
]]>By: Peter Kwanhttp://boingboing.net/2011/12/06/apparatus-to-focus-human-body.html#comment-1289240
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 09:41:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=132986#comment-1289240I think “properly focussed” heat means that they are using a heat pump to move the thermal energy and increase the temperature to a level suitable for cooking . A heat pump needs energy to drive it but together with the heat from the victim it can be several times more effective that using the energy alone to heat the spuds.
]]>By: sockdollhttp://boingboing.net/2011/12/06/apparatus-to-focus-human-body.html#comment-1289198
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 06:19:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=132986#comment-1289198That dessert at the end of Pink Flamingos looked like it might have been steaming hot, too.
]]>By: Incipient Madnesshttp://boingboing.net/2011/12/06/apparatus-to-focus-human-body.html#comment-1289196
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 06:14:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=132986#comment-1289196A wick effect burn of a human body could easily boil several pots of potatoes . I think all supposed cases of SHC have been wick effect burns. There is some speculation that phosphane/phosphine gas may form in the intestines under unusual conditions, and cause true SHC, but it is unknown whether this has ever happened.

BTW, at full exertion a trained athlete can put out a few hundred watts. Probably not enough to boil a sufficient amount of water in the time the athlete could put out that much power. Still have the focusing problem too.

Baking a potato with its own electrical resistance would probably be the most efficient way. Sprint cyclists operating in shifts could bake a potato in about forty minutes.

]]>By: MrEricSirhttp://boingboing.net/2011/12/06/apparatus-to-focus-human-body.html#comment-1289188
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 05:47:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=132986#comment-1289188I think you’d be better off using a potato to heat a person.

Not in terms of efficiency or how many potatoes you’d need, but at least it could be marginally useful in some scenario where you’re cold and surrounded by potatoes.

]]>By: Vanwall Greenhttp://boingboing.net/2011/12/06/apparatus-to-focus-human-body.html#comment-1289184
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 05:39:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=132986#comment-1289184This works best under spontaneous human combustion, although that’s for last meals only.
]]>By: rattypilgrimhttp://boingboing.net/2011/12/06/apparatus-to-focus-human-body.html#comment-1289135
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 03:50:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=132986#comment-1289135If you hook up more people to the machine would the potatoes cook faster. And what about using horses or cows for even more rapid cooking time. Their manure could be used in the potato fields….
]]>By: C.J. Hayeshttp://boingboing.net/2011/12/06/apparatus-to-focus-human-body.html#comment-1289097
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 03:10:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=132986#comment-1289097No, keep your potatoes peeled.
]]>By: Earl Hollarhttp://boingboing.net/2011/12/06/apparatus-to-focus-human-body.html#comment-1289094
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 03:08:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=132986#comment-1289094The machine pictured doesn’t cook potatoes, but rather measures the oxygen consumption of the wearer, for purposes of estimating the total heat production of the human body. The original source explains more fully: http://blog.modernmechanix.com/2011/12/05/your-body-heat-is-sufficient-to-cook-pan-of-potatoes/
]]>By: pjcamphttp://boingboing.net/2011/12/06/apparatus-to-focus-human-body.html#comment-1289052
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 02:32:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=132986#comment-1289052I guess, if by “cook” you mean “your potatoes will be ready next month.”

The human body produces heat about equivalent to a 40 watt incandescent bulb. That’s wimpier than an Easy Bake oven.

]]>By: theophrastvshttp://boingboing.net/2011/12/06/apparatus-to-focus-human-body.html#comment-1289013
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 01:51:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=132986#comment-1289013anytime we see something like: “heat … if properly focussed [sic]” we should stroke our beards, cluck our tongues, and wonder what is to be done with the second law of thermodynamics
]]>By: peteraardvarkhttp://boingboing.net/2011/12/06/apparatus-to-focus-human-body.html#comment-1289006
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 01:43:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=132986#comment-1289006my grandfather was saved by potatoes.

During the 2nd world war, he was sent from Czechoslovakia to work in the post office in Berlin. There was an air raid at one point when he was in the middle of cooking potato dumplings at his dorm. and he was unwilling to leave them – thinking someone might eat them. So while the others went to the bomb shelter he stayed behind. Unfortunately the bomb shelter was hit and a number of people were killed but he was saved because he didn’t leave his potatoes.

]]>By: nixiebunnyhttp://boingboing.net/2011/12/06/apparatus-to-focus-human-body.html#comment-1288975
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 01:14:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=132986#comment-1288975If we could just focus energy like the article suggests, we’d all be rich. It’s hard to get a small quantity of high temperature heat from a larger quantity of lower-temperature heat.
]]>By: cdh1971http://boingboing.net/2011/12/06/apparatus-to-focus-human-body.html#comment-1288972
Wed, 07 Dec 2011 01:12:00 +0000http://boingboing.net/?p=132986#comment-1288972Here is a link to a recent article in which a fist sized Wankel is used as a range extender for an electric car.